Born in Schwerin, Adolf Friedrich was the third child of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1823–1883), and his third wife Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

From 1907 to 1908, Adolf Friedrich led a scientific research expedition in the region of the Central African Graben and traversed Africa from east to west.

Individual groups extended their explorations to the Bahr el Ghazal near the upper Nile, while others travelled to south Cameroon and the islands of the Gulf of Guinea.

After World War I, he served as the vice-president of the privately chartered German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa; his brother Johann Albrecht was president from 1895 to 1920.

He later married the widow of his half-brother Duke John Albert, Princess Elisabeth of Stolberg-Rossla, on 15 October 1924; they were among the guests at the 1937 wedding of Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld.